If you’re evaluating platforms for the next stage of growth, Shopify and Adobe Commerce (Magento) will be on your shortlist. Both can power serious ecommerce—but their operating models are very different. As you scale across channels and locations, those differences show up in total cost of ownership (TCO), speed, and day-to-day simplicity.

Independent research and real merchant outcomes point in the same direction: Shopify reduces cost and friction while improving conversion—advantages that compound as you grow.

1) Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

New research shows Adobe Commerce’s TCO is 41% higher on average than Shopify’s, driven by 42% higher platform fees, 24% higher operating costs, and 42% higher implementation costs.

2) Speed to launch (and to change)

Brands launch 40% faster on Shopify than on Adobe, thanks to a managed stack and upgrade-safe extensibility; Adobe projects typically incur more integration and setup work.

Shopify Faster launch means you spend more time selling and less time maintaining.

3) Checkout conversion = real money

Shopify’s checkout converts 5% better than Adobe’s, on average—which the study treats as a 0.5% TCO offset (assuming a 10% margin).

Shopify+1 That’s not a vanity metric; it’s margin you keep.

4) Operational simplicity (unified vs. self-managed)

With Adobe Commerce you often own hosting, patching, performance, and integration overhead—costs and complexity that grow with scale.

Shopify’s managed platform unifies storefront, payments, checkout, APIs, and POS so you can run omnichannel without middleware and with fewer vendors to coordinate. Shopify

Retail in your mix? Shopify’s native POS + ecommerce reduces moving parts and unlocks unified inventory, customers, and reporting.

5) When Adobe still makes sense

You require framework-level control with bespoke logic and are resourced for ongoing maintenance.

You must own self-hosted/cloud infra due to policy or procurement constraints.

If that’s you—and you’re prepared to manage the complexity—Adobe can fit. Otherwise, Shopify’s velocity + lower TCO + conversion advantages tend to win for growth-minded teams. Shopify

6) How LATECH de-risks the decision (and the migration)

As a Shopify Plus Partner, we help you: scope data & SEO, map app parity, implement B2C/B2B, enable Shopify POS, train teams, and launch with confidence—so the switch is a business upgrade, not just a tech project.

If your north star is speed to market, lower TCO, and a world-class checkout, Shopify is usually the faster growth vehicle. Adobe can suit highly bespoke, control-heavy programs—but you’ll own that complexity.